


One Foot in Tomorrow

by NanakiBH



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Character Study, Companion Piece, Devotion, Loyalty, M/M, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 06:53:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14491266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NanakiBH/pseuds/NanakiBH
Summary: There was someone for him to look forward to.





	One Foot in Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> I _think_ this was originally going to be the beginning of [Kaleidoscope](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4814696) (nsfw), but then I decided to take it in a different direction and ended up abandoning this. I just took a look at this now and liked what was here. After reading this, you might want to go read Kaleidoscope as well if you haven't!

On that day when he woke up from his nine-year absence from the world to be greeted by that differently familiar face, he hadn't known what to think. Without him speaking a word, simply standing at his bedside, John had looked at that face, counted the ways it had changed, and had known that a devastating amount of time must have gone on without him. There'd been a momentary panic, then nothing. To a man who'd thought himself dead somewhere in the realm of the unconscious, the idea that he was actually alive after all hadn't sounded very profound.

It had been a little surprising, and that had been all.

They'd talked to each other easily, like it hadn't been years. For him, it had been like yesterday, but for Ocelot... For Adam, it had been a minor eternity of frequent hospital visits. Time had softened his old acquaintance, though. Nine years of watching over a person he hadn't expected to wake must have been to blame for that. It wasn't a thing to be proud of, but John had felt a swell in his chest when he realized that Adam hadn't been standing guard at his bedside at just Zero's request.

Adam wanted to be there.

Perhaps it was the head injuries he sustained that finally made him realize the sincerity of Adam's feelings. Or maybe he just saw things more clearly with one eye. After being asleep that long, it felt like it was open wider than ever, able to take in everything, and what he saw was a person who was willing to sacrifice his own everything to be at his side. Like a man drowned and struggling to resurface, he'd greedily grasped hold of him and held on to the one who was willing to sink to the bottom with him.

From the moment he'd awoken, he devotedly listened to every word Adam had to tell him. His accent was gone and he spoke with a comfortingly familiar American one. It sounded nothing like the person he remembered except for the times when his sarcastic bitterness slipped through, winding around insults aimed like stinging darts at his weak-kneed doctor. At first, he'd been worried about _Ocelot_ being the one who'd been chosen to watch over him, but that worry dispersed quickly. Those days when they played cat and mouse had been left somewhere far in the distance.

Adam had become a man – a man who knew exactly how to obtain whatever he wanted.

If it were his safety that Adam sought, then he would be safe. It was probably more of his own ego that made him think with satisfaction that it had been for his sake that Adam had become so capable. If he'd mentioned his thoughts aloud, undoubtedly, Adam would've huffed and told him off, but, unless he'd felt like teasing him, there had been no reason to say anything.

 

It had been about a week since their last communication.

Their plot had worked well – shockingly well. As his phantom worked to take care of his past, he was forging ahead. It was a lonely endeavor, but Adam was the tailwind that kept him moving forward. Remembering their words before parting was always what kept him at the back of his mind.

To carry out their plan, Adam had to forget him. Having come to know him so well, he knew that such a thing would be impossible for him, but John didn't want to let his sentiments be wasted. If Adam had to forget, then he promised himself that he would always remember him in return. At the back of his thoughts was where Adam's true self would stay until they would meet again.

By the sound of it, that day was soon approaching.


End file.
